Feature Article: Getting Enough Sleep?

From your friends at Family Well-Being:

"Do You Get Enough Sleep Regularly?"

Sleep is one of those funny things about being a human being -- you just have to do it. But have you ever wondered why?

In addition to the outward signs we're all familiar with, the heart slows down and the brain does some pretty funky things. In other words, a sleeping person is unconscious to most things happening in the environment. For any animal living in the wild, it just doesn't seem very smart to design in a mandatory eight-hour period of near-total unconsciousness every day. Yet that is exactly what evolution has done in our lives. So there must be a pretty good reason for it!

Reptiles, birds and mammals all sleep. That is, they become unconscious to their surroundings for periods of time. Some fish and amphibians reduce their awareness but do not ever become unconscious like the higher vertebrates do. Insects do not appear to sleep, although they may become inactive in daylight or darkness.

By studying brainwaves, it is known that reptiles do not dream. Birds dream a little. Mammals all dream during sleep.

Different animals sleep in different ways. Some animals, like humans, prefer to sleep in one long session. Other animals (dogs, for example) like to sleep in many short bursts. Some sleep at night, while others sleep during the day.

Studies have proven that sleep has a profound effect on your brain. Medicine can actually hamper your ability to get a good night's sleep. Many medicines, including most sleeping medicines, change the quality of sleep and the REM ('rapid eye movement') component of it. A regular amount of REM is vital to achieving a good night's sleep. Missing out on a good night's sleep can seriously affect what happens when you're awake. Dreaming occurs in the fifth stage of sleep.

Missing Sleep
One way to understand why we sleep is to look at what happens when we don't get enough:

As you know if you have ever pulled an all-nighter, missing one night of sleep is not fatal. A person will generally be irritable during the next day and will either slow down (become tired easily) or will be totally wired because of adrenalin.

If a person misses two nights of sleep, it gets worse. Concentration is difficult, and attention span falls by the wayside. Mistakes increase.

After three days, a person will start to hallucinate and clear thinking is impossible. With continued wakefulness a person can lose grasp of reality. Rats forced to stay awake continuously will eventually die, proving that sleep is essential.

A person who gets just a few hours of sleep per night can experience many of the same problems over time.

Other important things are known to happen during sleep. First of all, it is a time of rejuvenation and healing for your cells. Growth hormone in children is secreted during sleep, and chemicals important to the immune system are also dispersed during sleep. You can become more prone to disease if you don't get enough sleep, and a child's growth can be stunted by sleep deprivation.

But the question remains -- why do we need to sleep? Most studies suggest these factors:

Sleep gives the body a chance to repair muscles and other tissues, replace aging or dead cells, etc.

Sleep gives the brain a chance to organize and archive memories. Dreams are thought by some to be part of this process.

According to ScienceNewsOnline: Napless cats awaken interest in adenosine, sleep may be a way of recharging the brain, using adenosine as a signal that the brain needs to rest: "Since adenosine secretion reflects brain cell activity, rising concentrations of this chemical may be how the organ gauges that it has been burning up its energy reserves and needs to shut down for a while."

Adenosine levels in the brain rise during wakefulness and decline during sleep.

What we all know is that with a good night's sleep, everything looks and feels better in the morning. Both the brain and the body are refreshed and ready for a new day.

We send to you our best wishes for the continued good health of you and your loved ones...naturally!

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